Oppenheimer Questioning Scene

About

Oppenheimer Questioning Scene is a memorable scene from the 2023 film Oppenheimer in which the protagonist J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy) is being questioned at a security hearing. Online, images of Oppenheimer's interrogator Roger Robb (Jason Clarke) and Oppenheimer in the scene have been used as an image caption meme format, often paired with embarrassing or awkward questions.

Origin

On July 21st, 2023, the biographical drama film Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy as the theoretical physicist of the same name, premiered in the United States.^[1] In one scene of the film, Oppenheimer is being questioned about his scruples with using the atomic bomb in Japan by the character Roger Robb, portrayed by Jason Clarke, during a security meeting (images and dialogue shown below).

- Well then, you would have built the H-bomb too, wouldn't you?
- I couldn't.
- I didn't ask you that, Doctor! And the GAC report which you co-authored after the Soviet atomic test said a Super bomb should never be built!
- What I meant was…
- Would the Russians do everything to increase their strength?
- If we did it, they would have to do it. Our efforts would only fuel their efforts just as it had with the atomic bomb!

On July 24th, 2023, X^[2] user @JokerCritic posted two still images from the scene, writing, "This scene." The tweet (shown below) received over 680 reposts and 14,900 likes in one month.

Spread

On July 25th, 2023, X^[3] user @itsmattfred posted the images, captioning them, "This is how it feels to wake up to an alarm." The post (shown below) received over 3,400 reposts and 45,000 likes in one month.

In the following days, the images achieved popularity on X as an image caption format, with users often captioning them with questions that were embarrassing or awkward to answer, and with descriptions of stressful situations. For example, on July 25th, X^[4] user @CountVolpe made a post that received over 6,900 reposts and 56,900 likes in one month (shown below).

An image from another scene of Oppenheimer being questioned also saw use as a meme format. For example, on July 31st, X^[5] user @firagawakjwthme posted a meme that received over 110 reposts and 1,600 likes in three weeks (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References